Abu Dhabi’s Department Of Economic Development to support start-ups at RDPETRO 2018

Created: Monday, 16 April 2018 06:19

Qasem Al Kayoumi is the chairman of RDPETRO and head of ADNOC’s technical centre. (Image source: DED)Abu Dhabi’s Department of Economic Development (DED) has announced support for the Startup Hub at RDPETRO, one of the leading oil and gas conference in the world which will be held in Abu Dhabi from 9 -10 May 2018

The 2018 conference is set to present a unique platform and business growth opportunities for organisations to show the potential of their projects, products and research and compete for investment.

The event particularly will focus on tech start-ups who will play a pivotal role in bringing new perspectives to RDPETRO.

Commenting on this new partnership, Salem Abdalla M. Bin Shabib, advisor of innovation, incubation and SME at the DED, said, “DED launched the technology innovation Pioneers ‘TIP’ platform last year operated by Takamul programme with the aim to create a more robust ecosystem for innovation and technology in the UAE, presenting real industry challenges and reaching out worldwide for innovative technological solutions, bringing them to the UAE and providing the ecosystem to encourage the growth of Start-ups and SMEs that would be home-grown.”

Citing technological innovation and R&D investment as a major enabler to ADNOC’s 2030 Smart Growth strategy to creating a more profitable upstream, downstream and a sustainable and economic gas supply, Qasem Al Kayoumi, head of ADNOC’s technical centre, underscored the importance of RDPETRO.

“As the world’s first ‘R&D co-funding’ public event for the oil and gas industry enabling a multi-million-dollar fund to develop R&D Projects, we are looking to harness the creative and entrepreneurial talent and reward cutting-edge innovation. For the government to support RDPETRO is a matter of great prestige for us,” Tiago Hipolito, advisor for R&D planning and policies at ADNOC, added.

Faisal Al Hmoudi, director of the innovation and incubation at DED and head of Takamul Programme, said, “The Takamul programme provides unique and dedicated support to the life-cycle of technological innovation, from ideas right through to application, by facilitating the creation, commercialisation, as well as patent support and protection of the intellectual property with the aim to encourage and nurture more innovation star-ups in the UAE, to further support a sustainable knowledge-based economy.”